PostHog is an open-source product analytics platform that combines event tracking, session replay, feature flags, A/B experiments, and surveys in a single self-hostable or cloud solution. It has become the default analytics stack for privacy-conscious SaaS teams and engineering-led organisations who want to own their data.
Product Overview
PostHog's key differentiator is breadth: where Mixpanel does analytics and FullStory does session replay, PostHog does both — plus feature flags, experiments, and user surveys. The open-source codebase means teams can self-host on their own infrastructure, keeping sensitive user data entirely in-house. The autocapture feature records all user interactions by default, eliminating the need to manually instrument every event before analysis.
Key Features
- Autocapture: Records all clicks, form inputs, and page views automatically — retroactive analysis without upfront instrumentation.
- Session Replay: Watch individual user sessions with full event timeline, network logs, and console errors.
- Feature Flags: Roll features out gradually by user segment, with instant kill-switch if issues arise.
- A/B Experiments: Run multivariate experiments with statistical significance tracking directly in PostHog.
- Self-Hosting Option: Deploy PostHog on your own infrastructure via Docker or Kubernetes for complete data ownership.
Best For
Engineering-led startups and scale-ups that want a complete product data stack in one tool, or teams with privacy requirements that need to self-host their analytics data.
Pricing
Generous free cloud tier (1M events/month free). Paid tiers start at $0 and scale with usage — typically $0–$450/month for mid-sized products. Self-hosting is always free.
Key Integrations
Segment, Zapier, Slack, Salesforce, HubSpot, BigQuery, Snowflake, Sentry, Stripe
Pros
- All-in-one: analytics + session replay + feature flags + experiments
- Open-source with self-hosting option
- Generous free tier
- Strong engineering culture and fast shipping
Cons
- UI less polished than Mixpanel
- Self-hosting requires DevOps expertise
- Feature flags/experiments less mature than dedicated tools like LaunchDarkly
